Aengus Ó Snodaigh (Dublin South Central, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

It is interesting that the two debates, this and the one we had earlier, are interlinked. They flow into each other. Last night I talked about the five drivers of the negative effects we have seen on systems of biodiversity in this country and elsewhere. The same five drivers are having a negative effects throughout the world. I refer to the way we have exploited our land and sea. I refer also to fish farming, urbanisation, intensification or centralisation of farms and ranching, which has destroyed many hedgerows to create larger fields and generate a greater crop yield, and to the use of pesticides and the likes to increase the yield. We have harvested our forests but last night the Minister asked what would we do without forests.

I mention the exploitation of nature for fun. I have no problem with its exploitation for sustenance in that we need to survive and feed ourselves but there is a level at which we can survive without having to exploit and do damage to our environment.

People throughout the world and on this island do not believe that the climate is changing. The climate does not change overnight. There have been many changes in climate over decades, centuries and millennia, but what is different about this change is that it is happening in front of us and it is being caused by us. It is not caused by plate shifting, volcanoes and ash obscuring the sun. This has been caused directly by our exploitation of natural resources for profit, greed and our gratification as humans. Everyone is not benefitting from this exploitation. The opposite is the case.

In the intensification and acceleration of that exploitation, the other driver is pollution, in particular, plastics and chemicals. Our air, water and land are being poisoned by us. In many cases, the damage will be irreversible. We have seen the damage of nuclear pollution where a little damage will take many centuries to undo but in comparison to the pollution in which we all have been involved in terms of our use of plastics and more frequent air travel, nuclear pollution is minuscule. While we will not be around to see the damage done, we are seeing the damage our pollution of the water and soil is having.

I mentioned invasive species last night as something we can immediately address. If nothing else, the international body can have a quick effect and, in terms of the changes required, at a small cost, but that is not the problem. I outlined last night that one fifth of the earth's surface is at risk of invasive plants and animals, and I presume the sea and inland waters are as bad, if not worse. I am aware of many invasive species. As I said last night, the document from Invasive Species Ireland mentioned plants which I was not aware were invasive species. However, when one looks at the photographs in the field guide produced by that organisation, which, I think, no longer exists, it is scary because they are species we now take for granted. They carpet many of our waterways or lakes, and some of the national parks.

The Minister, Deputy Madigan, mentioned rhododendron and laurel. Rhododendron is being widely sold in supermarkets. It is a nice plant to look at but it is being sold in supermarkets at the same time we are trying to rid the national parks of it. The fact it has dislodged or overwhelmed native species to such a degree that they are endangered shows that much more should be done. It might need to become, along with other plants, a banned or reportable species. There is legislation to deal with noxious species, most of which are native or, at least, have been here for many centuries. The Minister could provide local communities with incentives to remove invasive species. That might involve funding to Tidy Towns organisations or groups, such as Men's Sheds, which are active throughout the country. Towns could get some sort of credit. Organisations, such as Irish Seed Savers and groups looking to replant the lumper potato, could be helped.

We need to increase tax on packaging and increase the electrification of trains and cars. We need to increase the use allotments and community gardens in urban centres. It is happening but not at the rate required and that would encourage people. That is not only about planting. It is giving people a greater appreciation of how we are interdependent on all the other species with which we share the earth. Our survival depends on us protecting the world's ecosystem. Thankfully, the younger generation seems to understand that. Hopefully, it will continue to put the pressure on us, as legislators, but also on the rest of society, to decrease and reverse the damage we are doing.

I refer to an interesting scheme, and I do not know why it is not being replicated in Ireland. An Irish company, Kingspan, announced that it will recycle 500 million plastic bottles from the Mediterranean, bring them ashore in Barcelona and transform them into insulation. Why is that not happening in Ireland? That company is based in Ireland. Our shores are just as polluted as those in the Mediterranean. We could ask companies like Kingspan how to remove plastic from the seas around Ireland and reuse it so that it does not merely go into a black hole in the hope that it will go away, which is what we did in the past with our rubbish and which we are living to regret.

Much more can be done to ensure polluters are punished, exposed and fined to such a degree that others will learn that behaviour is not in anybody's interest.

It is great that 130 countries are coming together under the umbrella of the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services. I do not know enough about this initiative or the extent of its funding or power but the EU recently decided to divert €13 billion from the social fund into military research. I did not see any similar diversion of funds towards radical action to save our planet or encourage some of the projects I have mentioned. These projects could be started quickly and could have a rapid impact on what is required. In the longer term, however, much bigger schemes are needed. We need our culture to move from capitalism, which is the exploitation of resources for profit, towards a global system that appreciates and saves the earth, not just for the few but for all those who live on this planet, not only humans but all other natural species as well.

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